madmax

Think you are exempt and can do what you want? Think again. From a SEMA newsletter (and I believe all this to be technically accurate)

Memo 1A.
This refers to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memorandum that says it's illegal to remove, disconnect or disable a required emissions control device on any pollution controlled motor vehicle (PCMV), pretty much any 1968 (1966 in California) or later model year car/light duty vehicle used on public roads. What this means is that even if you don't have a local emissions-testing requirement, technically you can still break federal law by chucking/disabling your vehicle's smog equipment.

Federal Emissions Requirements.
If your area has emissions testing, almost certainly some form of underhood inspection goes along with it. Technicians will check to make sure that all required smog equipment is installed and functioning properly. This does not mean you can't change things! You just have to make sure changes you make are smog legal and comply with Memo 1A. Because you may need to prove compliance to an inspector, most product manufacturers offer documentation that states their products are at least "49-state smog legal," effectively claiming that their products satisfy the EPA requirements. One warning: Products that claim 49-state smog legality are not legal for use in California (or states that use California emissions standards) on PCMVs.

California (CARB) Emissions Requirements.
If you live in California or states that use California emissions standards, then Memo 1A/49-state smog legal isn't enough. Your product must have an Executive Order (EO) number issued by the California Air Resources Board to be legal for use on a PCMV, unless it can be considered a replacement part. That means the manufacturer of the product must obtain an EO number before the product can be advertised or sold in California. The manufacturer must also provide an underhood label with the part that inspectors can use to verify that it's appropriate for the vehicle it's on. Products that have EOs are often called "50-state smog legal" because having an EO satisfies both California and EPA requirements. This is pretty cut and dried except for some products like intake manifolds, which can qualify as replacement parts even though they're made by aftermarket companies. In these cases, many aftermarket companies include documentation explaining the status of these parts.

five7kid

I smell "sticky" here.

__________________
82 Berlinetta #1, orig V-6 car. '86 LG4 swap. Mods: Rebuilt ZZ3 shortblock, self-ported World S/R 305 heads, roller tip 1.5 rockers. ZZ3/4 intake & cam, dual snorkel. Accel coil & module. Jet Hot coated Hooker 2055 headers, 3" catback, Magnaflow. '83 TH700, 2500 stall, shift kit. 3.23 limited slip. Spohn SFCs. Daily yr-rnd driver. Best 14.20/96.4 @ 5800' Bandimere (13.17/103.8 @ sea level).
82 Berlinetta #2. 301k orig LG4 California car. Beautiful condition. 2000 SS LS1/T56 swap WIP.
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, mild rebuild, self-ported heads, XS282 cam, Holley/Proform/QFT 750DP on E85, RPM AG, dual-snorkel cool-air inlet, Hedders. TH400 w/3500 stall. 8.2" 10-bolt w/3.73 & Powertrax. Best 13.15/101.54 @ 5800' Bandimere (12.23/109.4).

J's T/A

Please sticky this to keep it near the top..

__________________
82 T/A LT1 everything old is new again.
355, studded mains, stock crank, 6in scat rods, Mahle pistons, OBD1 converted, delteq, LE Heads, pac1518s, pro-magnums, LE2 cam, stock lifters, LE intake, 52mm throttle body, Programmed by CAM, hedman lts, mufflex exhaust, LS1 (ebmiller) brakes, 02 M/C, eibach sportline front and pro rear springs, jegs subframes and torque arm, hotchis lcas, spohn panhard, bmr upper panhard, TDS swaybars/wonderbar, inland empire driveshaft, pst bushings, bilsteins...

jonb

Help me understand this , Is Memo 1A refering to the Clean Air Act of 1990. If a engine mod or swap took place before this date, are we exempt. I have always wanted to know this. Here in Florida we have no local smog laws. There seems to be so many people who have tampered with emissions(engine swaps, etc..) and have all sorts of money invested in their cars. Will they just have to park their cars? I have asked this question so many times about emissions laws, all I get if you install a newer motor than your car with all the "stuff" blah blah, But with so many people having such nice illegal cars. What will the law make us do?

madmax

Unfortunately, you have to go back further than 1990, more like 1974. This is a text version with later notes:

http://www.epa.gov/orcdizux/regs/fuels/cff/memo-1a.txt

This is the actual document. Note the reference to a 1972 document, that I did not read:

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resour...per-memo1a.pdf Note that its a PDF file!

Scary, huh?

I know that doesnt exactly answer your question, but I am pretty sure most if not all of us would be screwed. At the very least you would need some documentation to back up when the modification was done. I do know that in California sometime in the early 80's IIRC (and prior), they allowed conversion to an earlier drivetrain which could, in theory, also eliminate some emission control devices. Any car modified before that date was considered legal by the state, but when the law passed making conversions like that illegal, you had to take your legally converted cars' paperwork and send it to the state, so they would have records that it was a legal swap. I know my dad missed the date by like a year, he wanted to do it.

zerotosixtyV8

I think a good question that needs to be answered (maybe it has, I don't know for sure) is that if we take an engine like a ZZ4 or a 383 that says "not intended for use on pollution controlled vehicles" and take all the emissions junk off our stock engines and put it onto the new engine, it should pass, especially if you're using a cat, fuel injection, and a more efficient ignition system (MSD box or similar). I mean there are so many late model cars running these engines with these setups and they have to be passing emissions, especially when you see they are living in California or New York.

madmax

Very true. If I had it my way, if the car passes a sniffer test, who cares what is under there? Thing is, the government doesnt work that way. If there are any changes that could raise emissions, its not legal. Silly, but factual. What you have done is dove into the gray area that most people operate in, the one where it looks stock, or runs clean as stock, but it isnt stock.

zerotosixtyV8

Well, in MO anyways, the law states that you can do what you want to the car but it has to pass emissions to the standard set for the year of production. So it would have to be near equal to or below (preferrably below) what a 1989 5.7L IROC is supposed to put out in my case. if I wanted a '70 454, and put it in, the car would still need to meet the emissions standards for 1989 350. But since fancy fuel injection, MSD ignition boxes, a cat from say CarSound that can hande the emissions load from say a 383 or 377 stroker motor and AIR/smog pump and EGR should be clean, fuel economy might be lower, but it should be clean. I'm sure they give a little leeway on the numbers because of the age of the car and the fact that no matter what you do aside from replacing everything, the engine will not be as clean 13 years later as it was brand new or even 5 years old. I'd suggest if you have emissions laws, keep your emissions equipment on and you can even get stuff like higher flow cats that can clean up the pollutants of a 406 just as well as a stock cat could clean up the stock engine. Saving 5-10 HP really won't make a difference, especially if you've got a monster 383 or a 377 putting out like 500 HP anyways, but at a 5-10 HP loss, you'll pass emissions and keep the car cleaner for the environment.

madmax

Just remember that federal law is controlling over state law. You might not be in violation of laws in your state, but you are in the feds' eyes.

87LTcamaro

i say screw it. inspections are only once a year.......find out what it takes to make you pass....get the sticker and take all the stuff back off......no big deal. to some cars smog stuff and making the car pass emissions is a lot more than 10 hp. especially on the 305s. just my $.02 take it or leave it.

demonchild

heck for us in california they are once every two years. If you live in california just make sure it looks stock and if you do anything in the way of new parts keep the stock ones around(like the induction). take two days before smog scheck and make everything look good. Also if the engine bay looks clean the techs will say less because it looks like the car is taken care of.

StealthElephant

Is there anyway to make a car run cleaner? Like, can you run it really lean or something so that less fuel is being used to make it idle so when you go in for the sniffer your putting out less emissions?

demonchild

making the car run lean is dangerous. it will scrotch the piston walls.

mcditalia

How do you find out what your state requires to pass emmisisons? My goal is to put a big block crate motor like a 502 ram jet or the like into my 88 trans am and run it on the street/strip. Does that mean that a 502 with smog equipment is legal if it passes the requirements for my original 305 tpi setup? Or does each state dictate what is legal and what isn't? NJ already sucks enough as it is, am I being realistic or just dreaming of such a swap? What about a stock LS1 setup? It passes emmisions in a vette/newer f-body, what about a 3rd gen car? Will NJ fail it?

demonchild

a stock ls1 would work but a ram jet 502 with 502 + horspower wouldnt. basically they dont allow for bigger engine because of saftey issues with the frame. you can use the smog equipment and induction that comes witht the ls1

demonchild

o ya, every state dictates its own requirments. however, what may suck for a lot of people, is every state is thinking of adopting california smog laws.

Midnight Sun

I have always wondered about this because I have a 305 and want to put in a 350, yet a lot of those engines are "not intended for street use"

What would happen if you hooked up TWO cats on your exhaust for the emissions test, then took them off when you were done?

demonchild

thats why there is visual...if the car was not origionally equiped with dual cats then you cant have them. basically in caifornia you are aloud to have what the car came with from the factory. if you want to mod your car the parts have to be certified with a CARB EO number. many parts that cant be seen with in the visual can be gettin away with. the 350 can pass emmissions because few people can tell a 305 from a 350 or even a 400 without pulling the numbers off the block.

SuperTrans Man

ok maybe i missed this but what about power adders such as super charger, turbo charger or even Nitrous"?

__________________
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90 camaro Iroc not so stock
Mods to come:
Alot

RIP: Casity a 84 pontiac trans-am

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My car:
http://camaroz28.cardomain.com/id/supertransman

demonchild

well for the superchargers and turbo chargers i believe have to have a carb EO number to be legal. for the no2 i think that the laws differ from city to city on whether it is legal.

SuperTrans Man

ok well one more question then while where at it where is the general area to find this number ie what does it look like and how long is it? thanx still trying to understand all the smog laws out in cali

demonchild

CARB EO stands for California Air Resorces Board Executice Order Number. It is a number given to aftermarket parts that the state of california has deemed good to use on vehicles in california that have to be smogged.

A carb EO number looks like E.O. #D-215-46
this one happens to be for edelbrock performer heads.

demonchild

by the way dont even ask me how much reseach ive done about how to get my car to pass when they told me i had to go to a test only station one year.

madmax

Dont quote me on this, but I think nitrous isnt street legal for other reasons.

As for other power adders, or really any "non-conforming" part, the car has to be tested and they have to basically prove the emissions wont increase from the change... or so they say. I think that area is a bit gray, and loaded with green paper stuff.

demonchild

madmax, you from california?

i dont think that the referees here have the power to tell the bureaucrats what is legal in california...if it in not CARB certified it is not legally going on your vehicle. but who follows any of those laws?

madmax

No, the referees dont have any room to move. Maybe you misunderstood, but thats how the EO is obtained, the part is tested and has to be OK'd by the governing agency, which in this case would be the Cali Air Resources Board. You could, in theory, modify your car however you want and get the whole thing EO'd, if you had wads of cash, time, and friends in high places.

Yes, I am from Cali.

demonchild

if i had that kind of money i wouldnt have a third gen...maybe a first gen...but most likely a ferrari.

joezero

Making the car run lean will (usually) increase the NOX output, which is one of the primary things the smog test is looking for. There are fuel additives that you can buy that are supposed to help reduce your emmisions output for testing, but I've never used them so I can neither confirm or deny their claim (altho some guarantee you will pass of your money back).

I have a feeling that getting the CARB EO number works something like this: the manufacturer will build lets say an l98. And they get it so that it's running cleaner that an l98 in a camaro ran from the factory. Now you're allowed a certain amount of NOX, HC, CO2, CO, etc. from that particular engine. So they put the S/C on it and run it at like 4 pounds of boost and surprise, it just barely makes it under the max specs.

I thought I saw somewhere that NOS had a 50 state legal kit. I mean really, with it installed it has zero effect on emmisions. It's just when you turn it on that the numbers get bad. So in theory, if you tested the car w/o the nitrous on you'd pass no problem. I've heard that all you have to do is take the bottle out of the car and tell the smog tech that the car came that way and that you don't run nitrous on it anymore and they'll pass you. Never tried it tho, so I don't know if it really works or not.

There are a few other ways around CARB. One is to have an address in the middle of nowhere. Basicly if you have a relative or P.O. box in some little town in the mountains you have your DMV registration sent there. The smog laws are stricter in heavily populated areas and more leanient in rural areas. Since the DMV shows you in an outlying area your requirements are less.

Madmax is right, you can have your whole car declared emmisions legal by the smog referee, altho I don't think it requires the tons of cash and friends in high places. It's the same process as getting a motor swap certified. You make an appointment with the local referee's office and take the car to them. They poke around the engine bay and test the emissions. If all is well they issue an underhood sticker so that when you take your car to get smogged the treat it like a 350 and not a 2.8L.

Maybe it's just me (and I"m sure I'll take a lot of crap for this) but I think "newer cars" like 3rd and 4th gen fbodies should be taking advantage of technology. We should be going for engines with EFI and DIS, not double pumper carbs. If you can't live without your holley carb and distributer, get a 1st or 2nd gen. There's a reason they don't test the pre-76 vehicles. I tested our (now departed ) 66 mustang once, the HC and NOX numbers were so high the machine started freaking out. No matter how lean we tried to get the car to run it still maxed out the machine. It's kind of amazing how far technology has come with these engines in such a short amount of time. I think it was audi actually had a car that in Los Angeles had the exhaust cleaner than the outside air.

joezero

What's funny is neither of those have to be tested either. Seems kind of messed up that if you have enough money to buy nice stuff that we decide that the law doesn't have to apply to you either. Wasn't it Rockeffler who said the rich had a responsiblity to take care of those less fortunate? I guess he was never a ferrari owner.